IESE Essay Topic Analysis 2006-2007 » Clear Admit: MBA Admissions Consultants Blog

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Below are the upcoming deadlines for Fall 2008 entry to top-tier schools.
Apr. 1: UT Austin McCombs R3
Apr. 2: Dartmouth / Tuck R4
Apr. 3: INSEAD R4
Apr. 4: Oxford / Said R3
Apr. 23: UCLA / Anderson R4
Apr. 28: CMU / Tepper R4
May 2: LBS R4
Jun. 6: Oxford / Said R4

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics for the 2007-2008 admissions season.
The Career Goals Essay
Berkeley / Haas
Chicago GSB
CMU / Tepper *
Columbia
Cornell / Johnson
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
IESE *
INSEAD
London Business School
MIT / Sloan
Michigan / Ross
Northwestern / Kellogg
NYU / Stern
Oxford / Said *
Penn / Wharton
Stanford GSB
UCLA / Anderson
UNC / Kenan-Flagler
UT Austin / McCombs *
UVA / Darden
Yale SOM
* denotes last year's commentary

Categories
Use categories to access all that has been written on each of the topics. We have categorized by school and by subject matter.

Interview Reports
A selection of interview field reports from fellow applicants posted to the MBA Admissions Wiki. Add your reports when you are finished with your interviews.
Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
Kellogg
Michigan / Ross
MIT / Sloan
Stanford
UNC / Chapel Hill
Virginia / Darden
Wharton
London Business School

GMAT Resources
GMAC
Manhattan GMAT
GMAT Club
Princeton Review
Test Prep New York
Kaplan
Beat The GMAT

Writing Resources
Guide to Grammar and Writing
The Internet Grammar of English
English Usage, Style and Composition
The Economist Style Guide
Paradigm Online Writing Assistant

School Rankings
Rankings are a good way to start your research on various MBA Programs. Keep in mind each uses a different methodology.
Business Week
Economist
Financial Times
Forbes
USNews
Wall Street Journal

Career Guides
The following resources should be useful to those who want to research the careers open to them after (or before) earning an MBA.
Vault.com
Wetfeet

Business School Resources
The following are business resources offered by a variety of leading Business Schools. It's useful to subscribe to these resources, especially for the schools to which you are applying.

MBA Programs: North America
If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
Berkeley / Haas
Carnegie Mellon / Tepper
Chicago
Columbia
Cornell / Johnson
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Emory / Goizueta
Harvard
HEC Montreal
Indiana / Kelley
Michigan
MIT / Sloan
Northwestern / Kellogg
New York / Stern
North Carolina / Kenan Flagler
Pennsylvania / Wharton
Queens
Stanford
Texas / McCombs
Thunderbird
Toronto
UCLA / Anderson
Virginia / Darden
Western Ontario / Ivey
Yale

MBA Programs: Rest of the World
As there is some variety in the length of international MBA programs, we have denoted the length of the program next to its name (1 = one year; 2 = 2 years). If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
AGSM (Australia) 2
Cambridge / Judge (UK) 1
CIEBS (China) 2
Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (China) 1
ESADE (Spain) 1 or 2
HEC (France) 2
IESE (Spain) 2
IMD (Switzerland) 1
INSEAD (France) 1
IPADE (Mexico)
ISB (India) 1
London Business School (UK) 2
Oxford / Said (UK) 1
Rotterdam (Netherlands) 2
University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) 1

Additional Resources
Here we link a host of additional resources available across the web. E-mail info@clearadmit.com to have resources added to this list.
AACSB International
Association of MBAs
Beyond Grey Pinstripes
EFMD
gradschools.com (worldwide)
Infozee
mba.com (GMAT Scores)
MBAInfo
mbaleague.blogspot.com
MBAzone
MBA Jungle
TOEFL
Top MBA

MBA Tipline
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Thursday, February 08, 2007

IESE Essay Topic Analysis 2006-2007

With the deadline for IESE less than a week away, we wanted to follow up this morning’s post about upcoming deadlines for international programs with some comments on the essay questions for that particular school.

The very focused questions and narrow word limits of IESE’s application present a fairly straightforward but challenging task. Due to the recurring two-year time frame of some questions and the generally pointed inquiries, it seems likely that viable topics will come immediately to the applicant’s mind (without extensive brainstorming and mulling over possibilities). At the same time, applicants will need to think carefully about the big picture their individual responses create, and make sure they share as much relevant information as they can in each short answer.

Essay 1: Please describe your short term professional goals (post MBA). (200 word limit)
Essay 2: Please describe your long term professional goals (post MBA). (200 word limit)
Our general advice about tackling the standard career goals essay applies to these questions, but their unique format should be taken into account as well; though the two responses should come together to form a coherent discussion (with a long-term goal that follows naturally from the short-term objective), it’s also a good idea to limit one’s remarks to the specific topic in question. This probably won’t be difficult given the restrictive word limits. One more thing to consider is that even though the program doesn’t explicitly ask about the reasons the applicant is seeking an MBA, it would be ideal to include a sentence or two about how the IESE education would provide preparation over both the short- and long-term.

Essay 3: Describe two substantial accomplishments and one failure in a professional or private endeavour. (600 word limit)
With its 600-word limit and three-topic prompt, this question is like Harvard’s second essay with a twist: the addition of a failure to the mix. Remember that because this will be the first response about your past experiences that the adcom will read, it will set the tone for the rest of your materials. It might be a good idea, then, to think carefully about what qualities, impact and lessons you would like to convey in this essay before deciding on topics for the remaining ones.

Essay 4: Describe a recent situation (within last two years) in which you used a contact from your network to achieve a personal or professional objective. (200 word limit)
This is an unusual question as far as MBA application essays go. It seems likely that the school is seeking to gauge the applicant’s interpersonal skills and ability to build and maintain connections, as these traits have obvious implications for the ongoing strength of the school’s alumni network. Without explicitly pointing to your value as a future alum (it’s often dangerous to make statements that make it sound like you assume you’ll be admitted), you’ll want to emphasize the qualities the school might be seeking in its graduates in sharing the details of your interaction in this situation.

Essay 5: Describe the most difficult project (personal or professional) that you have faced recently (within last two years). (200 word limit)
Because MBA students will no doubt face difficult tasks and interactions both during and after their time in the program, it makes sense for the adcom to be curious about how applicants respond to adversity. In addition to describing the nature of the challenges you faced on this project, you’ll obviously want to explain the steps you took to overcome them and end with a comment on the positive outcome.

Essay 6: Describe a recent situation (within last two years) in which it was difficult to convince others. (200 word limit)
This question is similar to MIT’s prompt about advocating for a position, and is another instance of the school using a past experience as an indication of current abilities and future behavior. Though you’ll no doubt have much to say in very few words, it would make sense to draw out the interpersonal elements of the situation and highlight the thought process behind the steps you took to convince others of the merits of your ideas.

Essay 7: I wish that the application had asked me… (200 word limit)
For some advice on how to navigate this kind of open ended question, see our thoughts on Kellogg’s Essay 4E.

Best of luck to everyone working to complete this application in the coming days!

# posted by Clear Admit @ 2:24 pm in Essay Topic Analysis, Essay Topics, School: IESE

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Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
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Kellogg
Michigan
MIT / Sloan
New York / Stern
North Carolina / Chapel Hill
Stanford
Virginia / Darden
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IESE
INSEAD
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